Attorney: Suspects offered runaway teen safe haven

June 09, 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The parents of a 15-year-old girl found hidden in an acquaintance's home a year after she vanished disputed claims Friday that the girl had a cell phone during that time, went to school and could come and go as she pleased. "She says otherwise," the girl's mother told CNN. The parents' attorney, Marc Needelman, also dismissed as "a total fabrication" defense claims that the girl had been abused at her own home and that she had found a safe haven in the home of Adam Gault, a 41-year-old man who had once worked with her stepfather. Police also have contested the claims. "The Bloomfield police department has been involved in the investigation for over a year. They publicly stated yesterday in no uncertain terms that (the girl's parents) have absolutely no responsibility, have committed no crimes or engaged in any improprieties," Needelman said. The girl was discovered by police on Wednesday, hidden in a tiny, locked, closetlike room behind a bureau in Gault's home. She was pale and had been compelled to use a new name that made her appear to be part of that family, Bloomfield police Capt. Jeffrey Blatter said. The Associated Press is not identifying the girl or her parents to protect her identity because police are investigating if she was sexually abused. She remains in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families. State Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein said Friday that her office will review the girl's family and school life, and difficulties she faced before running away last June. Gault was arrested along with two women living in the home, Ann Murphy, 40, and Kimberly Cray, 26. They were charged with conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint, conspiracy to commit risk of injury to a minor and interfering with police. An attorney for Cray, Michael Georgetti, argued Thursday that the girl had run away from her parents' home to escape sexual abuse.